Through an all-cash business transfer agreement, agritech startup DeHaat has acquired Olam Agri’s farm consultancy portal AgriCentral. DeHaat hopes to strengthen its position as India’s largest full-stack agritech platform, reach a wider audience within the farming community, and offer a wider range of digital services for farmers with this strategic purchase. With more than 10 million users, AgriCentral is an app-based platform for Indian farmers. It was established in 2018 and provides community engagement, health diagnostics, customised agricultural planning, and real-time crop prices. AgriCentral spearheads the shift to digital farming by utilising technology such as GPS, satellite images, big data, machine learning, and image analytics. Through a network of more than 15,000 DeHaat Centres, DeHaat has effectively built strong supply chain capabilities to provide 360-degree agricultural solutions to Indian farmers in more than 120,000 villages, according to cofounder and CEO Shashank Kumar.
DeHaat’s attempts to reach millions of underserved farmers with its full-stack agri-value chain services will be aided by AgriCentral’s affordable digital capabilities. In order to improve farmers’ livelihoods, it will also allow DeHaat to implement a number of value-added services, like precision advice, mechanisation, insurance, and cattle advisory, Kumar continued.
Now, 12 Million Farmers are Connected with DeHaat
Through the agreement, DeHaat will now provide services to more than 12 million farmers across the country, with the goal of surpassing its 2024 farmer network target. DeHaat is a comprehensive agritech platform that offers farmers end-to-end agricultural services. It was founded in 2012 by Kumar and Amrendra Singh. This includes market linkages to sell their produce, financial access, individualised farm assistance, and high-quality agricultural inputs. Temasek and Prosus Ventures are among the investors that have contributed $221 million to the business, which was once valued at $700 million.
DeHaat Expanding its Network
With more than 15,000 DeHaat centres spread across 11 states, the company has grown its digital network to provide 2.7 million farmers with individualised crop advising and digital farmer services. In order to promote sustainable agriculture, DeHaat has established exclusive distribution agreements with over ten international bio-agri-input innovators and distributes over 3,000 agricultural inputs through these centres. Due in significant part to an increase in total expenses, the Gurugram-based startup’s consolidated net loss increased by 3.76% to INR 1,133.1 Cr in the fiscal year 2023–24 (FY24) from INR 1,094.4 Cr the previous year. It was on course to reach breakeven by the final quarter of the current fiscal year (Q4 FY25); nevertheless, it reduced its operational losses by 42% YoY in FY24.
With the use of alliances with more than 1,000 agricultural organisations, such as input producers, produce purchasers, warehouse managers, and financial institutions, the platform’s supply chain capabilities extend throughout 120,000 communities.
This article has been contributed by Megha Pavan, Founder and CEO, Arkaa Cluster Private Limited.
Food has been the basic necessity of life and Agriculture has been the central point of human civilization in one way or the other. But with the ever increasing population of the world and the pressure being put on natural resources latter is experiencing a kind of revolution. This change is anchored on AgriTech, which is a rising industry that strategically applies technology and innovation to solve some of the pressing issues in the agricultural field. Thus, relying on artificial intelligence, biotechnology, data analysis, and automation, AgriTech provides exceptional opportunities to increase the yields, sustainability, and revenues in agriculture.
The Evolution of AgriTech
Affiliated to agricultural technology or commonly known as AgriTech, is the broad term referring to innovations that seeks to optimize farming. Over the course of farming history it has been embracing new tools and methods starting from the plow to genetic modification of crops but today’s AgriTech is characterized by its focus on digitization and precision farming. In the recent past, farmers adapted to the modern technologies that include; sensors, drones, robotics, and machine learning in an attempt to enhance efficiency in the utilization of some of the resources like water, fertilizers, and pesticides. It is with this technological advancement that one expects to witness yet enhanced yields and food production plus minimized wastage hence food security considering the current changes prevalent in climatic conditions, depleting natural resource base and changing consumer trends all of which are likely to be occasioned by climate change.
AgriTech Market
Here Are Some Emerging Opportunities in the Agri Tech Sector
1) Precision Agriculture
Precision agriculture can be described as a process of closely tracking and controlling crops with the help of application of data. Soil conditions, moisture, and overall plant vigour is known using drones, satellite imaging, and remote sensoring. Using this information farmers can know when and where to irrigate, apply inputs, and spray pesticides and fertilizers; in this way, one reduces costs and gets good yields. Firms focusing on precision agriculture technologies are being paid large sums of money as the solutions offered by the industry will unlock agriculture production and reduce the impact on the environment.
2) Indoor and Vertical Farming
Due to the increase of the rate of urbanization and decrease of arable land, innovative methods like vertical and indoor farming have appeared to produce food in limited spaces. Compared to conventional farming, these systems require fewer water, less land, and generate less pesticide usage and crops can be grown all year round irrespective of weather conditions. Vertical farming, in particular, has been adopted in the cities since the available space to farm is restricted and more so the markets demand locally grown produce. Advancements in lighting technology, automation systems, and hydroponics are the main trends in the AgriTech sector, present possibilities for clients to change the approach to urban food production.
3) Millets: A Climate-Resilient Crop
Therefore, Millets are slowly proving to be a promising area within AgriTech because these crops do not require good soil, and optimum climate conditions to grow, and even yields better results in unfavourable conditions like dry lands. In comparison to other grains, these small-seeded grains are actually much drier than rice and wheat – a factor that makes them perfectly suitable to regions experiencing water stress. Millets are rich sources of dietary fiber, protein and various micronutrients which are very useful to meet the growing popularity of health foods in the world. Millet farming is one area that is hosting innovation by AgriTech companies that create solutions of increasing yield, processing and distribution. The emphasis on millets correlates with sustainability objectives and paints a picture of increased profitability for small farmers in regions of hardship common to many developing countries hence makes economic headlines for AgriTech, Food Security, Environmental stewardship.
This compels authorities in charge of agriculture to search for new solutions from available technologies, and biotechnological developments in particular. Techniques like the CRISPR system help researchers to grow crops that can withstand difficult conditions including drought, diseases, pests among others. Moreover it has presented its bio-solutions that are under development at several biotech companies which includes pest control solutions in form of bio pesticides, fertilization in form of bio fertilizers and other soil improvers which helps in improving soil health in order to make it more suitable for agriculture. Technological advancement in agricultural sector specifically biotechnology helps to minimize the hazardous chemicals usage for crop production and increase yields and has vast prospects for new business models.
5) Agricultural Robotics and Automation
Long-standing and particularly in the developed countries, the shortage of workers for agricultural work is leading to the automation of the process. These include planting, weeding, and harvesting since agricultural robots have the capacity of doing any specific job with great precision. It can also drive machinery for watering the crops and spraying fertilizers and also help identify diseases through drones at an early stage hence cutting costs.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the use of this technology in farming will create the future of AgriTech. The AgriTech sector has great potential for development since it answers two major cognizances of humanity: food security and the preservation of the planet. As a driver of high technology in the areas of precision farming, biotechnology, indoor agriculture and automation, there are much significant prospects that the sector has to offer on the changing dynamics of the food production, processing and consumption. Business people, venture capitalists, and authorities are gradually awakening to the fact that AgriTech may become the key to the further development of agriculture that will be more efficient, environmentally friendly, and able to feed the growing population. As the future of the global food industry unfolds to uncertainty in the face of climate change, resource scarcity, changing trends of diets among others, the AgriTech sector will remain to be a critical player in shaping the future of the food economy.
Ten percent of India’s total exports are agricultural products, making it the fourth most exported significant sector for the country. Despite agriculture’s importance, India’s low output-to-input ratio reveals serious structural flaws that are making life difficult for those who work in the industry. Increased input costs, decreased output, unpredictable weather, dwindling resources, restricted market access, stagnant innovation, and so on are all instances of such difficulties. When it comes to encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship, the agricultural sector is actively looking for methods to use technology to increase crop yields. The agriculture sector of India’s economy is feeling the effects of artificial intelligence and other types of disruptive technology. StartupTalky spoke exclusively with Praveen Pankajakshan, Head, of Cropin AI Labs to elaborate further on the subject “AI enhancing country’s agriculture sector”.
How do you envisage the future of AI in the agriculture sector?
Mr. Praveen: The applications of AI in Agriculture can be profoundly transformative, and we have just begun to scratch the surface in exploring the potential of it. Based on some indicators, at Cropin, we started investing resources early on and developed over 50 different models for different customers, which are at different Technology Readiness Levels (TRL). Crop health and phenological stage monitoring, generating cloud-free data, risk mapping for biotic and abiotic stresses, sowing progression and harvest prediction, and irrigation management models that farmers and organizations across the globe are already using. Although we had been working in this space for long, last year, we felt the need to formally launch the Cropin AI Lab in anticipation of its potential for Agriculture.
There is a rapid change in the pace at which the landscape of AI is evolving, and its implications for agriculture are limitless, impacting every stage, from land preparation to cultivation to the consumption process. One of the emerging trends we see is the democratization of AI, and we see many scientifically peer-reviewed methodologies coming into the public domain, even for commercial applications. The world is moving from task-specific models to generic models that can access a wide variety of data modalities. While this will only evolve further, one primary concern that many have (and rightfully so) is the right use of the data and the models. Data privacy, Trust and explainability in AI, ethical use of AI, and lack of data diversity leading to bias are genuine concerns and trending conversations in the market where organizations respond with the right strategies and solutions in their respective industries and domains.
While many are working on AI for Agriculture, the applicability of diverse types of farmers, including small-land-holding farmers (less than 2 hectares) in the Global South, is limited. Most of these solutions are suitable for large farmers who are cultivating mono-crops. While it is important to address the needs of those farmers as well, we cannot neglect the 600 million small-landholding farmers (based on FAO data) who need our assistance in helping them grow food for us in a sustainable and climate-smart way. Currently, there is no lack of data but the available data is noisy or biased, and hence, models that were trained on them carry with them the colors of the data.
Farmers may better grasp data insights such as temperature, precipitation, wind speed, and solar radiation by using artificial intelligence in agriculture. How precise is this data and how it can enhance the output?
Mr. Praveen: The challenge is not in the precision but in the availability of the data. From our own analysis, we have found that the gridded weather data is reasonably accurate compared to weather station data, especially for estimating the temperature and relative humidity. These methodologies use ground station data along with Satellites and Radar data to forecast using a combination of statistical, AI, and numerical techniques. However, reliably forecasting rainfall, even for a few days, is always a challenge and is a fundamentally complex problem to solve as the amount of data available for training these models from weather stations is sparse. As the climate changes, there is an even more need to set up more automatic weather stations or rain gauge stations (ARG). There are many recent initiatives by the Government of India to address this. So, very soon, we will see many stations coming up, densely in the different parts of the country, which can help the models become more accurate.
Looking at this from a farmer’s lens, the existing weather data is very useful for estimating the possibility of a disease or stress onset. Communication of this reliable secondary derived data in a timely manner to the farmers is much more critical. Depending on the monsoon onset, the farmers choose the sowing time and any management practices that can be followed. Due to climate change, we have recently observed delays or early onset of monsoon and false onsets. In many smallholder markets like India, the majority do not have access to this data, at least not on a widespread scale.
Farmers typically base their cultivation processes on traditional wisdom, historical data, and years or decades of experience in the field. In the face of evolving agricultural market dynamics, increasing weather threats, and concerns about pests and diseases, there is also a need to share the data to update their knowledge. However, one must be careful not to overload them with too much information that freezes their decision-making capacity.
Through some of our ground-level surveys, we have found that many farmers have increased yield quantity and quality by a minimum of 25% by adopting some of our solutions. So, the potential and aspiration is to extend this to all the farmers to benefit. The data must be homogenized and brought down to a scale where it is easily ingestable and trustworthy. One key element is to increase the trust of the farmers with whom we work.
Since most of the farmers in India are not tech-savvy and properly educated, how these new technological enhancements can reach them, and how they can be implemented in the best possible ways?
Mr. Praveen: In my interactions with farmers across the globe, they are very curious and ready to learn and implement ideas. The adoption has been limited because there are too many tools, and not all address their essential needs. If trust is established, farmers are keen to adopt some of these technological advancements, not only in India but across smallholder farmer markets worldwide. Tech adoption is actively changing and we are seeing an increase in momentum.
To date, we have digitized about 30 million acres of farmland and impacted the lives of about 7 million farmers globally through some of our solutions. We acknowledge that it is an upward journey to reach out to many more and earn their trust.
Large-scale adoption is challenging but is on the horizon, and all the private and public sector stakeholders are aligning to usher in a major agricultural revolution. Today, farmers grapple with climate change, pest and disease challenges, crop losses, and more. They are actively seeking new ways to transform their cultivation processes, and it’s a natural progression in the lifecycle.
For instance, we can predict the potential risk of pest and disease infestation at the plot and the regional level days and sometimes weeks in advance. It allows farmers to address issues proactively, minimizing yield loss. We also provide advisories to farmers based on geo-location, crop, and environmental suitability from sowing to harvest. For Governments and organizations that work with farmers, we provide sowing progression insights, harvest detection, and extreme weather conditions that can affect yield at harvest.
The critical aspect is to make these solutions more accessible and easier for farmers to adopt. They should be affordable and address their daily challenges while raising awareness of how technology can enhance productivity, profitability, and living conditions. Bridging the digital divide in agriculture and addressing financial inclusion at the rural level are also pressing concerns. One player alone cannot tackle the magnitude of issues plaguing the sector and farmers. At Cropin, we understand that it requires the collaboration of all stakeholders, including governments, agribusinesses, NGOs, development agencies, international organizations, financial service providers, and more. In the process, we make our solutions accessible and affordable. They also get the full backing of the entire ecosystem to support them so that farmers feel empowered and, most importantly, supported. We firmly believe we’re on the right path, and you can expect transformations very soon.
Indian Government, during 2020-21 and 2021-22, has allocated funds to the tune of INR 1756.3 cores and INR 2422.7 crores to the States for introducing new technologies including drones, artificial intelligence, blockchain, remote sensing, GIS, etc in agriculture. Can this be considered as a major boost and is it reaping the right fruit for the sector?
Mr. Praveen: While we cannot provide a commentary on government policies, it is worth noting that the government is undeniably moving in the right direction. These progressive policies and roadmaps have the potential to not only uplift our agriculture sector but also set an example for other countries to follow. What’s crucial now is to focus on the most effective way to implement these progressive policies, ensuring they translate into action on the ground seamlessly.
Since India is a country where dialects change with every mile, how the service providers are coping with this challenge?
Mr. Praveen: This doesn’t currently pose a significant challenge because there have been recent advancements in text-to-speech algorithms that are specifically trained for the Indian languages and context. But, the critical element is customizing the solutions to the localized needs. With such crop diversity and growing conditions, this is one of the most critical challenges to address. Our platform is made available to the preferred language of choice for the farmers, and we customized/scaled these solutions to many countries. Additionally, we have established an ecosystem of customers, partners, and field agents who understand the specific requirements of farmers in every nook and corner, which is an invaluable support to farmers and those working for them.
Agricultural exports account for 10% of India’s overall exports and rank as the country’s fourth-largest exported major commodity category. India’s poor output-to-input ratio highlights major structural weaknesses that are making life tough for people who make their living in the agricultural sector despite the importance of agriculture. Some examples of these challenges are higher input prices, lower output, climate variability, declining resources, limited access to markets, a lack of innovation, and so on. The agriculture sector is aggressively exploring ways to employ technology to boost crop yields to stimulate innovation and entrepreneurship. Artificial intelligence and other forms of disruptive technology are having a major impact on India’s agricultural economy.
The three most prominent uses of AI in agriculture are robotics, crop and soil management, and livestock farming. The goal is to improve farmers’ productivity, income, and harvests while decreasing their workload. In 2017, analysts predicted a $240 million global market for agricultural AI. More than doubling to $1.1 billion by 2025 is projected. Problems like rising population, shifting climate, and inadequate food supplies call for innovative approaches to increasing agricultural output. Therefore, it is essential to learn about AI’s potential applications in agriculture. The global food supply must be increased by half by the year 2050.
Shedding more light on this new tech-driven agriculture, Praveen Pankajakshan, Vice President and Head – Cropin AI Labs stated, “The applications of AI in Agriculture can be profoundly transformative, and we have just begun to scratch the surface in exploring the potential of it. Based on some indicators, at Cropin, we started investing resources early on and developed over 50 different models for different customers, which are at different Technology Readiness Levels (TRL). Crop health and phenological stage monitoring, generating cloud-free data, risk mapping for biotic and abiotic stresses, sowing progression and harvest prediction, and irrigation management models that farmers and organizations across the globe are already using. Although we had been working in this space for long, last year, we felt the need to formally launch the Cropin AI Lab in anticipation of its potential for Agriculture.”
The AI landscape is shifting rapidly, which has far-reaching consequences for agriculture at every stage, from the initial stages of land preparation and cultivation to final consumption. The widespread dissemination of scientifically peer-reviewed AI approaches into the public domain, including for commercial applications, is a rising trend around the world. Generic models that can access multiple types of data are quickly replacing task-specific ones. Even if this develops further, many are worried about making appropriate use of the data and models. Companies are responding to legitimate concerns and trending trends in the market by developing industry- and domain-specific strategies and solutions to problems including data privacy, trust and explainability in AI, ethical usage of AI, and a lack of data diversity that leads to prejudice.
Pravin Shinde, Founder, KhetiGaadi.com commented, “Although many people are working on AI for Agriculture, its usefulness to different sorts of farmers, such as those who own less than 2 ha of land in the Global South, remains restricted. Large-scale farmers growing a single crop would benefit most from these options. We must not forget the 600 million small-landholding farmers (according to FAO data) who require our help to raise food in a sustainable and climate-smart way, even as we attend to the demands of larger farms. There is no dearth of data at the moment, but most of it is noisy or biassed, so models trained with it reflect those characteristics.”
The problem is not with accuracy but with access to information. According to recent findings, the gridded weather data is a good approximation of weather station data, particularly for estimating temperature and relative humidity. These methods combine statistical, AI, and numerical algorithms with data from ground stations, satellites, and radar to make predictions. However, due to the limited amount of data available for training these models from meteorological stations, accurate short-term rainfall forecasting remains a formidable obstacle. More automatic weather stations or rain gauge stations (ARG) will be necessary as the environment continues to change. The government of India has taken several steps recently to deal with this problem. To improve the accuracy of the models, numerous new stations will soon be built in many different locations across the country.
Stretching further on that note, Nikita Tiwari, Co-Founder, of NEERX, stated, “From a farmer’s perspective, the available meteorological data is invaluable for predicting the beginning of disease or stress. Much more important is the timely dissemination of this trustworthy secondary data to the farmers. Farmers determine when to start sowing and what kind of management techniques will be effective based on when the monsoons will arrive. Recent years have seen delayed or early monsoon onsets, as well as false onsets, as a result of climate change. The vast majority of people in smallholder markets, such as India’s, do not have access to this information.”
Farmers typically base their cultivation processes on traditional wisdom, historical data, and years or decades of experience in the field. In the face of evolving agricultural market dynamics, increasing weather threats, and concerns about pests and diseases, there is also a need to share the data to update their knowledge. However, one must be careful not to overload them with too much information that freezes their decision-making capacity.
“Through some of our ground-level surveys, we have found that many farmers have increased yield quantity and quality by a minimum of 25% by adopting some of our solutions. So, the potential and aspiration is to extend this to all the farmers to benefit. The data must be homogenized and brought down to a scale where it is easily ingestable and trustworthy. One key element is to increase the trust of the farmers with whom we work,” stated Pankajakshan.
Value of Agricultural Exports From India in Financial Year 2016 to 2022
Are Indian Farmers Ready for Digitization?
While widespread digital adoption remains elusive, the stars are aligning for a dramatic shift in the agricultural industry. Now more than ever, farmers must contend with a changing climate, pests and diseases, crop failures, and other difficulties. It’s the next logical step in the evolution of their farming methods, therefore they’re on the lookout for novel approaches.
For instance, today’s technology allows for the early detection of pests and diseases both on individual plots and in larger regions, often weeks in advance. By addressing problems before they cause significant crop loss, it helps farmers save money. From planting to harvesting, geo-location-based crop and environmental compatibility recommendations to farmers are being offered. Governments and agricultural organizations benefit from our knowledge of sowing patterns, harvest timing, and the impact of extreme weather on crop productivity.
Speaking about farmers getting their hands on tech, Pankajakshan opined, “In my interactions with farmers across the globe, they are very curious and ready to learn and implement ideas. The adoption has been limited because there are too many tools, and not all address their essential needs. If trust is established, farmers are keen to adopt some of these technological advancements, not only in India but across smallholder farmer markets worldwide. Tech adoption is actively changing and we are seeing an increase in momentum. To date, we have digitized about 30 million acres of farmland and impacted the lives of about 7 million farmers globally through some of our solutions. We acknowledge that it is an upward journey to reach out to many more and earn their trust.”
The most important thing is to make these remedies more easily accessible and used by farmers. They need to be reasonably priced, helpful in solving the problems they face every day, and informative about how technology may improve efficiency, earnings, and quality of life. There is a compelling need to address financial inclusion in rural areas and the digital gap in agriculture. The scale of the problems facing the industry and farmers is too great for any single player to solve.
“At Cropin, we understand that it requires the collaboration of all stakeholders, including governments, agribusinesses, NGOs, development agencies, international organizations, financial service providers, and more. In the process, we make our solutions accessible and affordable. They also get the full backing of the entire ecosystem to support them so that farmers feel empowered and, most importantly, supported. We firmly believe we’re on the right path, and you can expect transformations very soon,” said Pankajakshan.
Pointing towards the government’s support, Praveen Shinde stated, “It’s important to recognize that the government is, without a doubt, making progress. Our agricultural sector might benefit greatly from these forward-thinking policies and plans, and they could serve as a model for other countries. What matters now is figuring out how to put these forward-thinking policies into operation as efficiently as possible.”
AI for All by Niti Aayog
India, being the fastest-growing economy has a significant stake in the AI revolution. Recognizing AI’s potential to transform economies and the need for India to strategize its approach, the Hon’ble Finance Minister, in his budget speech for 2018 – 2019, mandated NITI Aayog to establish the National Programme on AI, to guide the research and development of new and emerging technologies. In pursuance of the above, NITI Aayog has adopted a three-pronged approach – undertaking exploratory proof-of-concept AI projects in various areas, crafting a national strategy for building a vibrant AI ecosystem in India, and collaborating with various experts and stakeholders. NITI Aayog has partnered with several leading AI technology players to implement AI projects in critical areas such as agriculture and health.
Way Forward
There will soon be a dramatic change in agriculture, driven by AI, which will promote innovation and long-term growth. By 2025, the agricultural industry is projected to become the economy’s second-largest sector. Niti Aayog has selected a theme of ‘AI for all’ and is working to foster India’s AI ecosystem.
Precision farming, better use of resources, improved supply chains, and increased agency for small farmers are just a few ways that AI is tackling problems that have persisted for decades or centuries. With an ever-increasing global population, smarter use of AI in farming is more important than ever. Food security, resource conservation, and thriving rural economies are all possible outcomes if the agriculture industry adopts AI-driven solutions.
Nitin Konde
